Echo Of The Past
by Anime Girl23
Summary: Have you ever loved anyone, Jack?" Jack/Ianto. Not a post-Cyberwoman fic. R&R!


Hello again! For any of you that have been reading a Torchwood/Buffy The Vampire Slayer crossover entitled "Damaged Souls" (yeah, I am also Ice_Whisper) over on LJ or Twisting The Hellmouth, I'd just like to toss in a reminder that it has been nominated for the Children Of Time Awards and that voting is still open. You can find it under the Torchwood WIP section. For those of you that are hearing of this for the first time, the link to my LJ is in my profile. Just look under the tag entitled "Series: Moving On And Coming Back". It's set post-End Of Days.

As always, reviews are love.

Note: Okay, despite the summary, I swear that this isn't a post-Cyberwoman fic. Just read and it will make sense.

Disclaimer: I own _nada_.

Echo Of The Past  
One-Shot

"Amara, I know how you must feel-"

Amara glared at Jack, hazel eyes ablaze as she shoved him hard in the chest. "You know _nothing_!" she snapped, "My fiance is dead!" She shoved him again. "Have you ever loved anyone, Jack?!"

_"Have you ever loved anyone, Jack?"_

His breath caught in his throat for a moment as he grabbed Amara's wrists. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again when he heard Gareth yelp across the Hub. He turned his gaze from Amara's furious face and to the blonde haired tech. "Gareth-"

"I think we have a problem, Captain," he cut in, turning nervous brown eyes to him. He pointed at the piece of tech they'd found that morning and Jack noticed that something had switched it on. Jack closed his eyes, cursing under his breath. He'd had his suspicions about the device and he'd told Gareth to be careful.

"Sir? What's-"

"Gareth, what did you do now?!" Zoe snapped, interrupting Alec. She placed her hands on her hips, pushing her white lab coat behind her. Her face went pale when she saw the whirring machine. "Damn it, Gar!"

"I didn't touch it!" Gareth defended, "I was only running scans!"

"He was," Alec said, eyeing the artifact warily.

"Well, a lot of good that does us," Zoe scoffed, "We don't even know what it—what just happened?"

The entire group went quiet, their only sound being Amara's sniffles. Around them was still the Hub they'd worked in for ages, but it…wasn't. It wasn't their Hub anymore. The walls were less chipped, the couch under the Torchwood stamp wasn't the one that Amara had insisted on buying a month before; this one didn't hover. Everything was so…old.

"My God," Gareth breathed, walking over to what should have been his workstation, "Will you look at these? They're ancient!"

_"I don't care, Owen."_

_"Tosh, lay off," Owen huffed, "It's just a little porn."_

_"You're 'little porn' is clogging up Mainframe," Tosh said, sliding into her seat and turning to her computer._

"Wh-What? What's going on?" Gareth asked, suddenly terrified as Tosh stepped _right through_ him. He was shaking as he rejoined the group, pressing close to his equally terrified coworkers.

Jack's chest clenched as they watched Tosh and Owen argue, biting his lip when Gwen entered.

_"Honestly, Owen," Gwen rolled her eyes, "No man needs that much porn on his work computer."_

_"He shouldn't even have it on his work computer," Tosh grumbled, opening a new scan._

_Owen snorted, falling into his chair and propped his feet on the edge of the desk._

"But that's my…" Zoe said, trailing off as she watched Owen at her workstation.

"Why don't they see us?" Alec asked, watching as Gwen went to his desk.

"We aren't really here," Jack said softly, "The device…it brings forward points of the past. I hadn't been sure when we found it, but this…this time shouldn't be here."

It was so much like the Ghost Machine, bringing back images that had grown fuzzy in his mind. He'd never forgotten them, never forgotten this team. He remembered every one of them and though words and petty arguments grew fuzzy over time, he remembered each detail of their face, each aspect of their personality. He remembered everyone from his past in one way or another, just as he would remember his current team when he lost them as well.

"Woah, guys!" Amara exclaimed, pointing past the bickering figments of the past and straight to…

"Jack?!"

_Jack chuckled, leaning against the door of his office as he watched Owen and Tosh argue, and cast a glance at Gwen. He shook his head, going back into his office._

His team turned astonished eyes to him.

"Captain," Gareth said, "When are we?"

"2008," he said, staring at the door his past self had disappeared through.

"That's over two hundred years ago," Amara gasped.

He nodded.

He'd left Cardiff after Gwen had died. She'd been the last remaining member of the team and with everyone gone, the Hub was suddenly so much bigger. Myfanwy was gone, flown right into the Rift one night. He hoped she'd been sent home, though he knew it was a long shot. He joined the joined the Doctor again when he left and traveled for a good century and a half before they'd returned for a refuel and he couldn't bring himself to leave. The Hub was as he'd left it, computers turned off, brochures strewn across the desk of the tourist office, papers still piled on his desk; no doubt, UNIT would be more than a little miffed that they were late. Seas of dust had gathered, but he'd cleaned that before he returned to work and recruited his current team.

He glanced at his team, cringing slightly as he saw them send each other short looks before they ran for what had been and still was his office.

"You've barely changed a thing," Alec said, looking around and freezing as another man walked through him. He spun, eyes widening as he got a close look at the man that had perched himself on the corner of Jack's desk. "Isn't that the guy from your tin?"

Jack bit his lip, nodding once as he remembered returning to the Hub and finding his team scrambling to pick up the contents of the tin from when they'd dropped it. None of them had ever asked questions about the creased and yellowed photos and he'd never offered answers.

_"Porn will be gone in the morning?" Jack asked, smirking from behind his coffee cup._

_"As usual," Ianto assured, taking a bite from one of the donuts on Jack's desk._

_"Looks like you'll be staying late tonight."_

_"Looks like."_

_Jack grinned, putting his cup down and rising from his chair. He circled the table until he was standing between Ianto's legs. His chest pressed against Ianto's and his hands braced himself on the desk as Ianto's own hands wrapped around his waist. He pressed his lips to Ianto's neck once before kissing his lips. "Believe I still owe you that date."_

_"That you do, sir." Ianto's head fell back as Jack's hand drifted to his crotch and he moaned._

_"Maybe another night."_

_Ianto laughed and pulled Jack in for another kiss._

The scene faded, Ianto's laughs seeming to echo off the walls as Jack's office suddenly seemed too cramped. Jack set his jaw and went to his desk, sending a glance at his team that clearly told them to get out. He rose an eyebrow as Amara lingered in the doorway.

"Jack…I," she lowered her gaze to the floor, "I'm sorry." She returned her gaze to him, looking at him with more understanding than she had mere minutes ago, then turned on her heel and left, the door swinging shut behind her.

He sighed, one hand reaching for his tin. The picture on top was old and he peeled the two photos apart carefully, smiling gently at the group photo. His thumb traced over Owen, Gwen, and Tosh's faces, but paused on Ianto's, stroking gently. Those two photos had always seemed to stick together. He doubted his team had noticed it when they'd raced to replace everything.

With one last, gentle pull, he stared at the second photo.

Ianto.

He'd snapped it with the digital camera Tosh had brought. They'd taken it the same day as the group photo as they lounged on the beach. He'd taken a walk with Ianto, he remembered, pulled him away from the group and shared some kisses behind a large grouping of rocks. They'd climbed to the top and just sat there, Ianto lying between Jack's legs, comfortable against his chest. They'd snapped a few shots together as they sat there—those had been lost in his travels with the Doctor, he recalled with regret—and it was that last shot as they stood and prepared to leave that Jack couldn't resist.

Ianto had been staring out at the water, smiling as the water reflected off his eyes. One hand was cupped above his brow, blocking the sun from his eyes as he watched the seagulls, for once devoid of his suit. He'd been dressed more casually than he ever was, dressed in a white wife beater and his short sleeve button up that he himself had unbuttoned before they left the Hub. He hadn't been able to convince Ianto to wear shorts, remembering the younger man's shyness about the scars on his legs, caused by burning floors during Canary Wharf.

These were the last pictures of a time he'd never be able to get back.

Jack closed his eyes, ears reaching out as if they could still hear Ianto's laughter.

Had he ever loved anyone?

Yes, yes he had.

The End

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